OHS Students Visit the Past at Evergreen Cemetery

 

By: Cameron Litwiller, OHS Torch Reporter

               It was a cloudy, and quite chilly, morning for Olympia students to take a visit to the past and re-live the lives of former Bloomington residents who contributed to McLean County society.

               On October 5th, the elective English classes went to the 21st annual Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk. As always, the event was sponsored by the Illinois Voices Theatre and the McLean County Museum of History.

               There were a number of people that were portrayed but one favorite seemed to be the story of the doctor, Dr. Thomas Rogers (1812-1899). Dr. Thomas Rogers, a physician, was a close acquaintance to both Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.

        On the cemetery walk, Dr. Thomas Rogers talked about all of the adventures he had been on in order to treat a patient. Like many doctors at the time, Rogers made frequent house calls, traveling by horseback in inclement weather. Deep snow and a pack of wolves would force him to ride with his feet held high for miles.

        Senior Thomas Hallstein said that Rogers was his favorite character portrayed at the cemetery walk because of his wild adventures. “It was pretty impressive the kinds of stuff that he did,” said Thomas.

        After practicing medicine four years in Decatur, Illinois and seven years in Washington, Illinois, Rogers took the advice of Senator Stephen A. Douglas and moved to Bloomington in 1849. Rogers would make Bloomington his home for the last fifty years of his life, developing a large and successful practice.

        “I liked the fact that his story was connected to Abraham Lincoln,” said Junior Jessie Wyse on the story of Dr. Thomas Rogers.

        In 1855, Bloomington suffered a great fire which resulted in Samuel Fleming, a carpenter, suffering two broken legs when a chimney collapsed. Fleming later decided to sue Dr. Crothers and Dr. Rogers for malpractice because of his crooked leg resulting from the attempted surgery, claiming lack of "due and proper care, skill or diligence." Abraham Lincoln, successfully defended Dr. Rogers and Dr. Crothers, demonstrating with chicken bones how age affects a person’s ability to heal.

        The Evergreen Cemetery Walk is a good experience to learn about former residents of McLean County who made lasting impacts on the community. The 21st annual Cemetery tours run from October 3-4 and 10-11.